Open Rail - an open source universal linear rail system

If you're a maker who designs and builds your own CNC mill or 3D printer, you may find this new project interesting: an open source universal linear rail system.

This system is designed to be used in conjunction with various sizes of readily available T-Slot aluminum extrusions, it is a derivative of Maker slide, a successful project of open source linear bearing system for home built CNC equipment.

Mark and Trish Carew of Phlatboyz.com notes that precise heavy and light duty rail systems are one of the highest cost of creating any machine that requires linear motion. Therefore they are proposing the Open Rail system to be an affordable option to attach to the slot on any of the regular systems. It is designed to be customizable to each machine with very easy installation.

"The Open Rail system will be made of 6061-T5 Aluminum with Black Hard Coat Anodized, Type III, which means we will have the ability to use both metal v wheels for heavy duty applications and plastic v wheels for quiet light duty applications. This, along with Open Rail's unique ability to adapt to many different aluminum extrusions configurations makes it the most versatile linear rail system available today. This version of Open Rail is compatible with all Misumi's 5 series extrusions. Future plans include expanding the Open Rail line to include more of the Misumi's larger series as well as other popular T-Slot extrusions such as 80/20."

We believe such a rail system would definitely benefit many of tinkerers and innovators out there. For more details about the Open Rail project, please check out the Open Rail Kickstarter page here.